Dealing with Uncertainty/ Anxiety During the Coronavirus Pandemic and Your Mental Health. Part 2 | Security and Emergency Management Services | Seneca Students

Life is filled with uncertainty, especially at times like this. While many things remain outside your control, your mindset is key to coping with difficult circumstances and facing the unknown.

Your mental health influences how you think, feel and behave in daily life. It also affects your ability to cope with stress, overcome challenges, build relationships, and recover from life’s setbacks and hardships.

Strong mental health isn’t just the absence of mental health problems. Being mentally or emotionally healthy is much more than being free of depression, anxiety, or other psychological issues. Rather than the absence of mental illness, mental health refers to the presence of positive characteristics.

The following tips can help you to focus on the things that are under your control.

Let’s continue with some more tips.

Tip 4 Reduce and manage your anxiety and stress levels.

• Taking steps to reduce your overall stress and anxiety levels can help you interrupt the downward spiral of negative thoughts, find inner calm, and better cope with the uncertainty in your life.
• Get moving. Exercise is a natural and effective stress-reliever and anti-anxiety treatment. Try adding a mindfulness element and focusing on how your body feels as you move. Pay attention to the sensation of your feet hitting the ground as you walk, run, or dance, for example, or the rhythm of your breathing, or the feeling of the sun or wind on your skin.
• Make time for relaxation. Choose a relaxation technique such as meditation, yoga, or deep breathing exercises and try to set aside time each day for regular practice.
• Get plenty of sleep. Excessive worry and uncertainty can disturb your sleep just as a lack of quality sleep can fuel anxiety and stress. Improving your daytime habits and taking time to relax and unwind before bed can help you to sleep better at night.
• Eat a healthy diet. Eating healthy meals can help maintain your energy levels and prevent mood swings.

Tip 5 Building Better Mental Health. People who are mentally healthy have:

• A sense of contentment.
• A zest for living and the ability to laugh and have fun.
• The ability to deal with stress and bounce back from adversity.
• A sense of meaning and purpose, in both their activities and their relationships.
• The flexibility to learn new skills and adapt to change.
• A balance between work and play, rest and activity, etc.
• The ability to build and maintain fulfilling relationships.
• Self-confidence and high self-esteem.

Tip 6 How to maintain good Mental Health

• Try to learn something new every day.
• Express your feelings and exercise your ability to manage a range of positive and negative emotions.
• The ability to cope with and manage change and uncertainty.

Whether you’re looking to cope with a specific mental health problem, handle your emotions better, or simply feel more positive and energetic, there are plenty of ways to take control of your mental health starting today.

Remember Seneca Security personnel are trained in Mental Health First Aid and ready to assist you via the Seneca Safe App: https://www.senecacollege.ca/about/security/seneca-safe.html

Please take a look at the Well-being Resources recording session on Leadership & Employee Development (LED) website and other great resources offered to staff.

You can reach Security at the contact information below